


She Loves Fall Most of All

by the_savage_daughter_0627



Series: Hauntober 2020 [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Autumn, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara (Avatar)-centric, Love, Loving Marriage, Married Couple, October Prompt Challenge, One Shot, One True Pairing, POV Zuko (Avatar), Prompt Fic, Romantic Fluff, Short One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt, Zuko (Avatar)-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:26:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27049423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_savage_daughter_0627/pseuds/the_savage_daughter_0627
Summary: Katara loves fall. Zuko loves Katara. So he'll happily put up with her fall-loving shenanigans.Written for the Hauntober 2020 prompt "leaves".
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Hauntober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973365
Comments: 10
Kudos: 74





	She Loves Fall Most of All

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy the tooth-rotting fluff <3
> 
> Special thanks to the amazing LadyFaePhillips/FireLadyFae for beta-ing this piece!

Zuko hates fall. He hates the cold, windy dampness of it all. He hates how the sun disappears for months on end and the way seasonal depression settles over him like a fog. He despises the way that everything becomes pumpkin-spice flavored. And it’s not like it’s  _ really  _ pumpkin at all; it’s nutmeg and cinnamon and other spices and has very little to do with actual pumpkin.

But Katara loves fall. She loves nothing more than stopping by Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latte before going to a corn maze or the pumpkin patch. Through the months of September to November, she lives in flannels and scarves and boots and she lights candles that smell like  _ autumn woods  _ or  _ warm flannel _ . She visits Hobby Lobby and Target like it’s a religion and always spends more than she should, and spirits-forbid she sees a Spirit Halloween store. 

She decorates every inch of their house, inside and out, with all things fall—hand towels with scarecrows on them, place mats with smiling jack o'lanterns; even cutesy little signs with quirky autumn-themed quotes take the place of picture frames on the shelves. She has decorative pillows for both the furniture inside and the wicker furniture on the porch outside. And of course, she makes him set up all of the Halloween decorations, put on a costume, and hand out candy to trick-or-treaters with her every year.

But she’s his wife, and he loves her, so he does it all with a smile.

And that is how he finds himself out in the front yard raking up the leaves that have fallen off the branches of the maple trees. It’s been three years since they bought the house, and three years of raking up the leaves for the compost for her vegetable garden, and he’s half-convinced that Katara wanted to buy this house specifically for these leaves. 

Zuko drags the rake across the grass and pulls the last bunch of leaves into the pile he has amassed. He props the rake upright and rests his arm on it, feeling the sweat drip down his back despite the chill in the air. 

He’s finished just in time: Katara pulls up in the driveway a few moments later. He props the rake against a tree and starts crossing the yard to greet her when she kills the engine. She gets out of the car, and even in her scrubs, with her braid frazzled and worn, she looks absolutely beautiful. Her face lights up when she sees him. He’s always loved that smile.

He kisses her in greeting, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off her feet. It doesn’t matter to him that they’ve been married for three years and together for seven; he always treats her like they just got married yesterday. He just loves her that much. 

“How was work?” Zuko asks when he sets her back down on her feet.

Katara reaches back into the car for her purse, and he admires the curve of her rear before she straightens back up.

“It was fine. Busy. Had two colostomy bag blowouts and one guy came in with projectile vomiting.” She shudders dramatically. “The  _ horror. _ ” She holds up a bag of takeout. “But I brought home dinner!”

Zuko pecks her cheek. It’s always amusing to him how Katara could spend all day at the hospital and deal with all sorts of gross things, and have her appetite completely unfazed. 

“Sounds great. I’m starving,” Zuko tells her as he takes the bag of food. They start walking towards the house.

“What’ve you been up to?” Katara asks.

“Oh, I was just doing some yard work.”

Katara’s gaze cuts across the yard. When she sees the large pile of leaves he’s spent the last two hours raking up, her face lights up and she looks up at him with that smile, the one that tugs at his heartstrings, the one Zuko knows means she wants something, the one he can never say no to.

The corners of his lips turn up. “What’s that look for?” Zuko asks, although he already has an idea of what she wants.

She laces her fingers through his. “Will you be mad if I jump in the leaf pile?”

“What are you, twelve?” Zuko teases.

She pushes him with her shoulder. “Oh please, I do this every year. I’m a child at heart and you should’ve  _ known  _ I would ask.”

“I did know. Why do you think I didn’t rake it right into the compost pile?” He grins at her.

Katara throws her arms around him in a hug and sprinkles his face with kisses, punctuating each word. “Oh my spirits, you are seriously the best, most amazing, most thoughtful husband ever!” 

His grin widens at her shower of affection. Nothing can make him happier than making her happy.

She finally presses a kiss to his lips before she takes off across the yard, tossing her purse down as her braid flies out behind her. Zuko watches as she leaps into the air before cannonballing into the pile of leaves with a shout of joy. He shakes his head with an amused chuckle as the leaves fly everywhere, undoing almost all of the work he’s just done.

But Zuko doesn’t mind at all. Katara loves fall, and he loves her enough to rake the leaves up again tomorrow.


End file.
